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<p>Are you sure? (Law schools consider gender and sexual orientation as one aspect of diversity. Why would med schools be any different?)</p>
<p>Demographics are definitely a factor, just very minor, and only come into play long after you’ve been sorted by grades, mcat, and extracurriculars. This is more at play during waitlist admissions (according to a talk I had with the dean of admissions at my top 20 school)</p>
<p>The reason medical schools interview a portion of applicants is because they are putting a lot of weight on your personality. It is frequently said that all interviewees have the academics to qualify for the school. At that point the school is looking to see what kind of person you are, could they picture you as a doctor, and also if you align with their mission. There are schools who will turn someone away because they are not a good fit for them even though they know they would be a good fit for another institution (even of equal or higher rank)</p>
<p>I am on my phone, so I can’t see your name, but whoever is accusing tuftsstudent or schools of being a xenophobic is totally out of line. The path of all work/no personality is most definitely not foreign to schools. Many students have crashed and burned from this path and schools know to avoid them. If you were the 1st person to ever get a 45, does that mean you are def like that? No, but if you show up to your interview and fail to impress, you will get passed over for the kid with the 30 who has a demonstrated passion and ability to interact with patients, and spent their time doing something useful other than studying.</p>
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The phrase is worth repeating for its importance. There is something that is more useful than studying at school, in the eyes of the medical school adcoms.</p>
<p>This may beg a question: Although students can do something useful outside of studying at ANY school, not all schools are equal in encouraging their students to do so. For example, a school like Brown may do a better job than an engineering-bent school like Harvey Mudd. You really need to have time to develop your people skills than staying in the library studying all the time. Some people even say “waiting the table” at a restaurant may be a good training as the waiter needs to deal with many new customers just like doctors. Maybe the liberal-art-ish classes in which you constantly need to talk and discuss in the class may be better than, say, a differential equation class which requires you to spend a lot of time all by yourself in solving an endless number of problems in the problem set in order to “honing your problem solving skills.”</p>
<p>People skills! D2 called to rant that at least half the people in her prestigious summer program are totally devoid of social skills–like how to hold a conversation where two people actually take turns expressing opinions/ideas/comments; or know to look at your face when talking to you; or have interests outside their narrow academic area. Has kind of put her off the idea of grad school altogether. (“Too many weirdos, mom. Three of my [7] suitemates have never had a date–and there’s reason.” She said that the girls were as socially challenged as the boys.)</p>
<p>Re: waiting tables-- one med school interviewer told D1 that the jobs of doctors and waitpersons had a great deal in common.</p>
<p>^Having fun with friends will do just fine in developing social skills and keeping person mentally healthy in any challenging situation. People who actually enjoy their life tend to spread happiness around them and keep others grounded which is extremely important at any job, but more so in medicine when dealing with sick and their families who are under tremendous stress. Relieving part of this stress is one of primary responsibilities of medical professional. It actually can make sick feel better. I believe that determinning if an applicant could become (or willing to) such a professional is the most important aspect of Med. Schools interviews. As I have mentioned, D’s Music Minor was the most common topic of D’s interviews at Med. Schools and so was her unusual for pre-med long lasting volunteering for Crisis Center hot line in her college town. It involved several hous training in how to talk to people in tremendous distress (some of them on a brink of committing suicide). It is hard to imagine, but these hot lines are very popular. People somtime would like to remain anonimous and just talk to somebody when feeling down. D. has saved at least one life, she was told so by police who called her later. She kept talking to person and after he hunged up on her, called police immediately. At this point, she knew person’s location and other detailed imformation to enable police to prevent suicide attempt. Most student volunteers at Hot line were psychology major, none others were pre-meds.</p>